


Certainty

by mithrel



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Blanket Permission, F/M, Marriage Proposal, Podfic Welcome, Shopping, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-25
Updated: 2009-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-23 23:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/256235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben asks the Doctor for a holiday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Certainty

Ben slumped against the wall of the console room in exhaustion. It was late, but he couldn’t sleep. He was still trying to get his head together, figure out if he was doing things because _he_ wanted to do them, or because someone told him to.

“Something wrong, Ben?”

He looked up to see that the Doctor had entered. “No, not really.”

The Doctor looked at him, waiting. “It’s just…every time we land somewhere, we end up in trouble!”

He frowned. “I see. Do you want to leave?”

“No!” If he left he’d be stuck in England for six months, and then shipped out again, which didn’t seem anywhere near as exciting anymore. “Just…can we have a bit of a holiday?”

“Certainly,” the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. “I know the very place.” He looked again at Ben, sharply. “Are you sure nothing’s bothering you?”

“No. I mean, yes, I’m sure. I mean…” He stopped. “It’s Polly.”

“Polly?” The Doctor looked confused. “What about her?”

“I’d just met her before we started travelling with you. She’d never have time for a bloke like me normally. I want to…I mean, not that she would, anyway, and where would I find—”

The Doctor cut him off. “Stop babbling, Ben, and get to the point.”

He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I want to propose.”

“So why don’t you? I’m sure it won’t cause any trouble.”

“You want a list?” He began counting on his fingers. “One, she’s too good for me. Two, I don’t have a ring, or any money to buy one. Three, even if we were back home, I’m gone in six months, not enough time to save for a ring. Four, she won’t want to be married to a bloke who’s gone all the time…”

“All right, all right,” the Doctor said, holding up his hands. “I think you underestimate yourself, Ben. You and Polly would make quite a good match, I think, insofar as I know human romances. If you’ll be gone once you get home, you’d better propose to her here.”

“Without a ring? She’d laugh in my face.”

“So get one where we’re going.”

“With what money? I _have_ to pay for it myself, and I’m broke!” _A bloke’s got some pride, after all…_

The Doctor thought a moment. “You get paid a salary in the Navy, don’t you, Ben?”

“’Course I do! But not enough to—”

“And you get extra hazard pay?”

“Well, sure, but—”

The Doctor reached into his pocket, found a handful of strange coins, and began counting into Ben’s hand. “The war machines…the smugglers…the Cybermen…Daleks…Redcoats and slavers…Atlanteans…Cybermen again…and Macra.” He looked up at Ben. “Sixty _khads_. I think that should cover anything you need.”

Ben grinned weakly, looking at the gold coins in his hand. They had a bird on one side and a tree on the other. “Thanks, Doctor.”

@*@*@*@

The next day, they landed on a planet called Khersia. The Doctor parked the TARDIS in a forest about a mile from the nearest village.

“Khersians have some of the greatest open-air markets in the galaxy,” he told them. “You can find almost anything in them.” He handed Jamie and Polly each a purse.

“What about Ben?” Polly wanted to know.

“Since he woke up early, I already gave him some money,” the Doctor said, and Ben relaxed.

“Right, if this is set up the way most are, food sellers are over there, clothing that way, jewelry at the far end…” He stopped. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll find something!”

“Ooh, I’d love to see what type of clothes they have here,” Polly said. “Want to come along, Ben?”

“Er, no,” he said. “’m feeling a bit peckish. Think I’ll get something to eat.”

“I’ll come with ye, Polly,” Jamie said, and she beamed at him. He offered her his arm and they walked off together.

Ben scowled slightly and tried to suppress the surge of unreasoning jealousy. He knew Polly liked Jamie, and he didn’t mean anything by it, it was just the way he was. Still, after the way he’d made an ass of himself with the Macra and nearly got them killed, he was feeling more uncertain than usual.

He found the food sellers, though he wasn’t really that hungry, and bought some sort of meat and vegetable pasty. “Three _zints_ ,” the stallholder told him.

Assuming that a _zint_ was less than a _khad_ (although he had no idea of the worth of the local currency, and might be being grossly overcharged) he handed over one of the coins the Doctor had given him. In return, he received the pasty, three reddish coins with holes in them, and a larger silver one embossed with a sunburst on one side and a crescent moon on the other. “Thanks.”

Munching his pasty, he made his way to the jewelry section. Brushing the last crumbs off his hands, he approached a likely-looking counter.

“What can I do for you, sir?” the woman behind it asked him.

“Yeah, um, I was looking for a ring.”

“What sort of ring, sir? Is this for an anniversary…?”

"An engagement,” Ben told her.

“Ah, yes. Well, we have several types of betrothal rings. How much were you willing to spend?”

“I have fifty-nine _khads_ ,” he told her.

She looked surprised. “I see. Well, might I suggest one of these?” She pointed to a display case, filled with rings of a whitish metal, set with clear stones.

He was dubious. “Don’t look like much to me.”

She smiled. “Well, they wouldn’t. These jesalis crystals are untuned.” She brought out a smaller case, with rings of the same metal. The stones were also the same, except for the color. One was green, one violet, one red, and one gold.

“So do I buy one of the tuned ones, or…?” he ventured, uncertain.

She shook her head. “These are just for illustration purposes. You tune the crystal after you buy it.”

“An’ how do I tune it?”

She smiled. “Jesalis crystals respond to emotional vibrations. They change color based on how the giver feels towards the recipient. The color remains as long as the emotion does.”

Now Ben was sure she was having him on. “All right, so what do the colors mean?”

“Green is for familial affection, violet represents friendship, and gold represents romantic love.”

“An’ the red?” he asked.

She pursed her lips. “Yes, well, we don’t often get red stones. The crystals are rather expensive, you see, and most people aren’t willing to spend the money just for that.”

“Just for what?”

“Red is lust.”

“Oh.” Ben thought about it for a long moment. _Well, what could it hurt?_ “I’ll buy one.”

He gave her Polly’s approximate ring size. “If it needs to be fitted, you can bring it back,” she told him, handing it over.

“What about cleaning?”

She shrugged. “Water with a drop of vinegar in it will clean the ring and stone both.”

Well, that was easy enough. “So how do I tune it?”

She smiled. “Simply think of your lady-friend.”

That was no hardship. He’d fallen for Polly when he first saw her. All that bluster about being stuck ashore was just that…bluster. After all, a chap didn’t want to admit he was mooning over a bird. But when that sleaze had started harassing her, he hadn’t even thought about it before thumping him, making sarcastic comments afterwards to cover for it.

He looked down at the stone, half of him convinced that it would look the same, half fearing it would have turned red. A deep gold crystal winked up at him, and he smiled.

“Shall I wrap it up for you, sir?”

“Please.”

She handed him the small box. “That will be fifty _khads_.”

He gave her fifty-two, since she’d been so helpful, and she was effusive in her thanks. As he turned to go, she called, “Good luck, sir!”

@*@*@*@

He mooched about the market for awhile, then saw a stall selling navigational equipment. He bought a compass, using the remainder of his money, since he hadn’t brought one along. He could figure out where he was on Earth easy enough, but in other places he was lost. Granted, it would be useless on space stations, and wouldn’t do much on planets where the pole was in the southeast, but he felt better having it.

As he tucked it into his pocket, he heard, “Hoy! Ben!”

He looked over to see Polly and Jamie. Polly was wearing a cloak of some sort of heavy purple and blue brocade. Jamie was carrying something like an oboe with an air reservoir.

“Got yourself another set o’ pipes, eh, mate?” he asked him, grinning.

Jamie grinned back. “Aye. Tisn’t as good as mine, but I fancy learnin’ t’ play it.”

“What have you been up to?” Polly wanted to know.

Ben shrugged. “Looking around, mostly. Had some food. Bought a compass,” he said, showing it to them. “Might come in handy.”

“Pity you couldn’t find one for the TARDIS,” Polly laughed.

“What’s that?” The Doctor had found them again. He was carrying a parcel.

“Nothing, Doctor,” Jamie said, winking at Polly. The Doctor looked suspicious.

“What’s in the box?” Ben asked, to forestall an argument.

“Oh, this and that. I see you all managed to find something interesting.”

“Yes, we did,” Polly said, twirling so her cloak fanned out around her. “How do I look?”

“Ye look lovely, Polly,” Jamie said.

“Yes, quite nice,” the Doctor agreed.

“Ben?”

He coughed slightly. “It suits you.”

She beamed at him.

“Well, it’s getting late, we’d best get back to the TARDIS.”

“I dunno. It’s a nice night. Care for a stroll, Duchess?”

“Sure.”

“All right then, we’ll see you later. Come along, Jamie.” The Doctor winked at Ben as he turned to leave, the Scot following behind him.

@*@*@*@

They walked for about fifteen minutes, the sounds of the market fading behind them. It was starting to get dark, and Polly looked up and gasped.

Ben looked up as well, and saw what could only be a nebula directly overhead. “Blimey.”

Polly swept off her cloak and spread it on the grass. “What are you doing?” Ben asked her, amused.

“Let’s look at the sky for awhile,” she replied, lying down on the cloak.

He moved to lie next to her on the grass. “Come over here, you’ll get dirty.”

“Ah, I don’t mind,” he said, feeling unaccountably nervous.

“Don’t be silly, Ben, the cloak’s big enough for us both to lie on it.”

Reluctantly, he moved over. It was a tight fit, and he ended up with his arm around her. She nestled into his shoulder and sighed contentedly. It was nice.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, looking up at the sky.

“Not as beautiful as you.”

She sat up and looked at him in surprise. “Why, Ben, this isn’t like you.”

He sighed. He’d never get a better opportunity. “I know. I’m…I’m not clever, like the Doctor, or gallant, like Jamie, but…” he fumbled in his pocket, producing the box. “Polly, I love you. I’d never have had a prayer if we hadn’t met the Doctor, but, maybe…” he trailed off, unwilling to look at her.

“What, Ben?” Her voice was gentle.

He couldn’t lose his nerve now. He opened the box, and took out the ring, kneeling up in front of her. “Will you marry me?”

There was silence for so long that Ben wanted to shrivel up and blow away. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he said, “Well?”

She smiled brilliantly at him. “Yes, Ben, yes!”

For a moment he was too flabbergasted at her acceptance to do anything, then he slipped the ring on her finger, and kissed her.

They stayed outside for a good while, before she started shivering, and they headed back to the TARDIS.

@*@*@*@

The Doctor and Jamie were in the console room. “Why, Polly, what a beautiful ring," the Doctor said, smiling. "A jesalis crystal, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You’re not,” Ben told him.

Polly walked over to show him the ring. “Well, well.”

“What?” she wanted to know.

“It seems Ben loves you more than I thought.”

She frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Jesalis crystals take their color from the emotions of the giver. This crystal is as deep a gold as any I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a few. So Ben must care about you a great deal.”

“Ah, get off it, Doc,” Ben protested, flushing. The Doctor only winked at him.

As Polly showed Jamie the ring, Ben mused, “I suppose we’ll have to wait until we get back to Earth for the wedding.”

“Of course!” Polly said. “My mother would kill me if I got married without telling her!”

“So, you two gonna stick around for the ceremony?” Ben enquired.

The Doctor looked doubtful. “Well, I don’t know…”

“Ah, c’mon, Doctor, it’ll be fun,” Jamie coaxed.

“Well, all right then,” he agreed.

“One more thing. Jamie, mate, I’m gonna need a best man, someone to stand for me. Would you do it?”

He looked surprised. “Do ye no’ have friends to do that?”

“Other than you, you mean? Well sure, but none of ‘em I’d rather have stand for me.”

“Your brother won’t like that,” Polly said.

"Hell with ‘im,” Ben said. “So will you do it?”

“Aye,” Jamie said. “I’ll stand for ye.”

“We’ll have to wait for a while, though,” Polly said. “We can’t very well get married after only knowing each other a few weeks.”

“Hell with ‘em,” Ben said again. “If you wanted propriety you shouldn’t’ve married a sailor.”

“Guess I’m stuck then,” she said, and kissed him.


End file.
